A PASSION FOR ETHICAL SCIENCE

As people become increasingly aware of the fate of laboratory animals, regulations on testing procedures have changed and scientists are forced to find more creative solutions to analyze the efficacy and toxicity of their products, without resorting to animal experiments. This has led to the development of alternative testing methods, with more extensive in vitro studies and reconstructed human skin models, which are nowadays an accepted alternative. However, none of these models hold all the characteristics of real human skin tissue.

The creation of Genoskin

Genoskin provides high-tech human skin models to test chemical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic products in order to avoid animal experiments. We use real human tissue collected after surgery and a cutting edge technique to keep excised human skin samples alive in an appropriate ex vivo culture system. Genoskin was founded in 2011, as a spin-off of the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and The Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse. Genoskin won the French National Award for Innovative Technology at its emerging stage in 2010 and was registered as a SAS company (simplified share company) in 2011. In 2012, the company obtained the award from the Réseau Entreprendre Midi-Pyrénées.

One step ahead with real human tissue

The NativeSkin human skin model is Genoskin’s first accomplishment. This patented technology allows to keep human skin biopsies alive for several days after excision in an easy to use format. Genoskin continuously expands its range of innovative skin models and 3D culture tools in order to help our customers to conduct research on the complexity and pathologies of human skin. As Genoskin’s product range only contains natural human skin tissue, it holds all appendages and characteristics of real human skin.

Safe and controlled skin sourcing

The skin tissue we use in our products is obtained with the Informed Consent of patients undergoing plastic surgery.

Every step of our collection process is in full compliance with the Declaration of Helsinki. We also have signed Biological Sample Transfer contracts with several French hospitals and clinics to collect the skin samples needed for the production of our skin models. To ensure the safety of the collected skin tissue, every donor’s serum is tested for the absence of HIV-1 and -2, and Hepatitis B and C.

An expert team with hi-tech tools

Genoskin currently continues its expansion with a growing team of skilled scientists who specialize in skin biology and are dedicated to innovation and high quality production. We are located in the biotech incubator of the Oncopole Cancer Research Campus in Toulouse, France.

Our technical facilities include biosafety level two cell culture rooms and access to research platforms with a 3D imaging technologies:

a 3D imaging platform

two-photon microscope equipped with straight and inverted stand

wide range microscope

videomicroscope

macrofluorescent microscope

a Surface Plane Illumination Microscope (SPIM)

histology platform

chemistry platform

bionanotechnologies platform.

These tools also allow us to conduct innovative scientific projects.

Our team even takes on specific skin research projects on request. Should you be interested, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Genoskin develops and markets innovative testing tools to study the effects of pharmaceutical, cosmetic and chemical products on human skin. Our skin models are an alternative to animal testing and contain donated human skin that is kept alive for up to 7 days for repeated application and predictive results.